Reyne_Maker

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad meow was fixed, it was the decision to retroactively punish that was royally messed up.

like I said, wouldn't even have dreamed of checking out DCUO or CO a month ago, but now? I will be.
And I don't think I'm alone in the change of heart to give the games a try, and that's really all it will take, sure some will come back, some won't, and slowly subscription number dwindle.

It will end with a whimper not a bang.

The game was always going to end, it's just a matter of when. What concerns me is that this has perhaps accelerated the process, and I'm equally concerned that so little has been done to fix the ill feelings of the community and provide reasurance.

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The devs closed an exploit, and made efforts to reverse the effects of that exploit.

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Actually I think people are complaining about how they royally messed up reversing the effects of that exploit.
Sure it need to be closed, but retroactively punishing people? and not even bothering to check if they really had exploited anything at all? It shows that they're uncaring, incompetent or both.

Follow this up by never quite explaining what constitutes an "exploit" and a still looming threat of getting the ban-stick for doing something you didn't know was wrong in the first place?
(and before you reply that everyone knows an exploit when they see one, Life is never black and white. There remains a vast grey area of activities in the game that may or may not be okay, where you draw your line may be entirely different to the next person, so how far is it safe to travel into the grey?)
Well, I'm leaning towards they're uncaring and don't value my loyalty.

Which is a shame, I've loved this game, and have the 36month Vet reward. I wouldn't have even given Champions a second look on the shelves a month ago, but this mammoth PR fiasco has me thinking, should I just quielty go "meh" and pay my subscription fee elsewhere?

And I'm not going to scream "doom" but as for the idea that in ayears time the game will be chugging along nicely?
Well, at the moment it is the ONLY Superhero MMORPG, they control the market.
But in a Year, Champions and Marvel will be contenders in the market, and doing you really think the field is big enough to support 3 Superhero MMORPGs?

One of the three is going to Tank, the only advantage that CoX had was customer loyalty and they've just messed that up royally, and well the game will have to end some time right? so even if it's not tomorrow, it might just be in that next year.

Which is a pity, because like I said, I do love this game, and really do want to see them make it right again.

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/Dark is much more survivable. /Fire has more damage.


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G_Tanker pretty much nails it with this, but there is one other question you need to ask, -
How much Inf will you spend on the build?

Armageddons in Spines burst, and the recharge to have it up often means they probably won't have time to all alpha you anyway, but then, that's not cheap.

Basically, I'd suggest Spines/dark, I find the survivability on mine is very good, and it was a very cheap build.

but if you want to spend your first billion earnt on the farmer, then yeah, go /fire, it will start to pull ahead dramatically.

Soloed the ITF yet? Or at very least played lead tank on it?

There is also an awesome MA arc that includes every AV possible through MA in it, 166861 I think,

Both will very quickly give you perspective on where your build is.

(hint, that Psi suddenly becomes huge when an AV is exploiting it)

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they need to be on or over 45

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Something about this bugs me...

You say need as it is soft capped defense or go home. Which is not true you can do just fine with 35%ish def. 45% def is what you should work for.

So you should say you want to get those positional defense numbers higher and the closer to 45% the better.

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This is the scrapper forums, and we should be dedicated to making everyone fall in line with the Scapper cause.
We must be gods and surpass all others.
We lead not by virtue of the star, but by example.
The Example of Awesomness.

More Seriously
Sure, 35%ish will make a very nice difference to survivability, but it's not the level of surviability that will allow you to jump in and save the tank when things get bad.

Scrappers SHOULD be "All that they can be"
it's vital to the new world order with Scrappers as the ruling class.

Okay, the first build? does look a little all over the place in terms of set bonuses and also looks hella squishy.
(It's those positional defense numbers, they need to be on or over 45)

Below is the same build with a few tweaks, noticably I put in Tough, weave, the steadfast unique and slotted Build-up with Gaussians,
It shouldn't really affect the cost of the build, but what it does do is get within the softcap range.

And if your budget can be stretched a bit, swap Weave to 2 Hami Enzymes or 3 Membranes (membranes are cheaper) and 3 slot SJ with Blesing of The Zepyhrs, which puts you over the soft cap.

Which takes care of survivability, now what about damage?

Anyway, the (very quickly) tweaked build

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Spines
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lunge -- (A)(3)(3)(17)(34)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- (A)(5)(5)
Level 2: Spine Burst -- (A)(7)(7)(11)(11)
Level 4: Agile -- (A)(9)(9)(43)
Level 6: Hurdle -- (A)
Level 8: Impale -- (A)(13)(13)(15)(40)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- (A)(40)(40)(46)
Level 12: Practiced Brawler -- (A)(15)(42)
Level 14: Super Jump -- (A)(46)
Level 16: Health -- (A)(17)(19)(37)
Level 18: Quills -- (A)(19)(21)(36)(36)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)(21)(23)(46)
Level 22: Dodge -- (A)(23)(25)
Level 24: Focused Senses -- (A)(25)(27)(43)
Level 26: Ripper -- (A)(27)(29)(37)(37)(39)
Level 28: Build Up -- (A)(29)(31)(39)(39)(45)
Level 30: Lucky -- (A)(31)(31)
Level 32: Throw Spines -- (A)(33)(33)(33)(34)(34)
Level 35: Quickness -- (A)(36)
Level 38: Boxing -- (A)
Level 41: Evasion -- (A)(42)(42)(43)
Level 44: Tough -- (A)(45)(45)
Level 47: Torrent -- (A)(48)(48)(48)
Level 49: Weave -- (A)(50)(50)(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

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Still better than Fire Armor though


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Ya I don't think so, take it back. I love my fire armor, and it is not weak with just SO.

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Lolz, I've actually been seriously thinking of rolling an MA/FA character, naming it "the Gimp" and seeing just how strong I can make the 2 least liked scrapper powersets.

Or perhaps stand around in AE screaming "PL meh"

had a "good" build AND Taunt????

No scrapper takes taunt. Ever. Even the /Inv who make Granite look wimpy.

Shes a bad scrapper, and you should have spanked her

Actually, if anything Shields is in need of a Buff.

On a survivability level, on a generic IO build, it's actually a lot weaker than most other sets, both the res and def numbers are pretty low and it's almost compulsory to take Tough/Weave.

And don't even get me started on the uselessness of Grant Cover.

Still better than Fire Armor though

to cap Regen, duh.

Well, that's probably never going to happen, but a full heal in under 30seconds and perma Dull Pain, anlong with a bit of Def/Res is about where you want to be.

Theres a few threads on the boards talking about this at the mo, and for pure regen builds a few can be found here

the AH proc?

Against Pylons, EBs, AVs etc, its a must have.
If you're going to see them or a lot of purple regularly, do it.
Otherwise, use it for something else.
But against anything big - Must Have!

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At only a 20% chance for +10% End it's not worth it, there is better, cheaper bang for the buck to be had,

Five Doctored wounds and the Armageddon proc for example

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Except that doesn't offer any accuracy and Dark Regen requires a tohit check.

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Fair call, but if you can afford the Proc, I'm going to assume we've put the Kismet unique in elsewhere and already getting a few Acc bonuses from Sets.

Honestly though, I probably wouldn't use the 6th slot for the Armageddon, that belongs in spine burst anyway.
But it still sounds fun

That is one very nice build,

I think your weak link is going to be Slash at 4.6sec recharge, there will be an ever so slight gap.
No biggie though, it can be filled with Poison Dart, which may not do a huge amount of DPS, but has the bonus of -regen

Emberly,
You've nailed it.
They're my thoughts exactly.


On an amusing side note, my current project is DM/Inv, shes not yet 50, but has had a few set bonuses added, mainly from Kinetic Combats, and has already soloed Bobcat (though used a lot of Reds)
Anyway, there I am with her on an AE Freak map today. Theres a Tank on the team, but he dies on the first mob.
I "could" wait for him to hosp and come back, but wheres the fun in that?
So I leap into the mob in front of them, pull it back to what's left of the first, hit Soul Drain and go to work.
Oh it was beautiful, this is how we did the rest of the map.
Sure, it took a while for the rest of the team notice me leapfrogging ahead in this manner while the Tank struggled with one mob at a time, but when they did realise, oh man, it was a thing of beauty.
There is something about being surrounded by 30-40 +3 freaks and knowing they can't overcome your defenses, that is so AWESOME.
And then a blaster comes alongside and hits nova, which is like awesome covered with chocolate sauce!

Who needs a Granite Tank when I can do that?

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For fast lvl I would say Kat/Willpower would be the best. Kat/Regen is good too, but take some time to leard to play the set. Kat/WP is Scrapper on Easy, you just turn all you toggles on and start to kill stuff

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Ditto. Katana/Willpower is my default answer for this sort of thing. Strong out of the gate, strong all the way through, strong when maxed out. Easy to play set it and forget it secondary.

Still, you might find Katana/Regen more fun if you WANT to put in the effort to learn the set and like taking a more active role in your own survival.

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My experience of playing Willpower straight out of the box was different, granted, I haven't combined it with Kat for the melee def bonus from DA, but it lacks the heal for when you get in trouble, and you will get in trouble.

It picks up later though so . . . .

I've been meaning to get an all scrapper ITF together for a while.
(The few times I have organised them, they've been pure chaos anyway, with us only coming together for the final mish, but meh, that's what happens when a Scrapper gets the star right?)

2am, doesn't sound to good though, I'm thinking about 6pm tonight on Justice,
Who's with me?

Think you've still got a slight delay, but I'm not sure,
If you can stretch the budget, get a set of Hecatombs for Smite, which should be all you need at this point, AND up your damage considerably (though that close to perma Soul Drain, and its going to be marvelous anyway)

All of them.

Could you be more specific about expected team sizes, targets etc?

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As far as endurance concerns with /DA, it can't be said enough: Get the Theft of Essense: Chance for +End Proc for Dark Regen.

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Interesting idea - I should try this with my Spines/Dark. Right now I have conserve power on autofire but this could free up a power slot if it works as described. Cool, thanks.

Agree with all the other comments....

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It is wonderful to have that in Dark Regeneration, but it is expensive to the common player.

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At only a 20% chance for +10% End it's not worth it, there is better, cheaper bang for the buck to be had,

Five Doctored wounds and the Armageddon proc for example

Nice build,

I think you're doing yourself a disservice by dropping Shadow Punch though, you won't have enough recharge for Smite-SL-Smite-MG all the time,

but still very nice build

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Is this a viable build? what level does it shine? I had one up to 32...and I died ALOT...perhaps I didnt give it enough time? perhaps I didnt have it slotted/powers choosen correctly?


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Yeah, happened to me to, make sure you plug the KB hole (Karma, Steadfast or Blessing of The Zephyr uniques will do it) and remember that DA offers a mix of Res & Def, while spines adds zero additional mitigation (unlike most primaries)
The skill become in knowing exactly when to hit Dark Regenration as you enter a mob, after a while you'll start to get it right, but early on, soloing asgainst large spawns, you will die.

Stick with it though, use inspirations where you have to, and it is an absolutely amazing mob killing machine.

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You want Fire/SR or DM/SD. Don't go with a lethal set unless you want to run into some serious headaches against certain (several) AV's

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This.

If AV killing is the sole goal, pick between the above two, Fire/SR if budget is a concern, Shields if you have @billion spare inf.

And that said, I'm a huge Fan oF DM/Inv for ridiculous smash/lethal survivability, and the damage to get the job done.

If zero downtime is your thing,-
Go Regen.

Willpower is close, but not as strong early on (though pulls ahead later)
And sets such as the aforementioned SR and Dark are 'late bloomers.
SR as a defense set, won't make big changes to your survuivability till your positional defense is above 20%, (and 30% is the minimum for where you'll want to be) which will only happen after you've got SOs.
And Dark, as beautiful as it is, has the knockback hold that needs filling.

With all that in mind, if you're talking about a set that is consistently good from 1 to 50, doesn't require a lot of inf poured in, and has the "zero downtime" factor, then Regen is your best option.

Um, it might be crazy of me to say this, but killing fast with my scrapper, and I mean really fast IS helping the team.
They should be thanking us crazy Leeroy types for helping them earn crazy XP/Inf/Tickets/etc at such a crazy rate.
Do we get thanked or it? No!
They're all "great healz", but never, thankyou for sharing some of that Xp,
and now you want me to buff you too?
Will I be thanked?

flamed probably, but wheres the scrapper love?

No,No, no, if i see one more DB/WP my head will explode